Montgomery County Virginia Historical Markers

April 16th, 2007
On April 16th, 2007, 32 innocent lives were lost in a senseless act of campus violence. Twenty-seven young, gifted graduate and undergraduate students died that day, two in Ambler Johnston Residence Hall, toward the south . . . — Map (db m43722) HM

The Blacksburg Motor Company building was built by Robert and Mason Heavener, two well-respected Blacksburg businessmen. Robert Heavener was a prominent citizen serving on Town Council and the National Bank of Blacksburg Board of Directors.
The . . . — Map (db m84769) HM

This coal car was one of many that were hoisted in and out of the mine. These cars were pulled by a hoist system. The cars were built with a low profile so that they could fit deep in the mine to be loaded without having to move the coal to the car . . . — Map (db m95441) HM

The coal car hoist was the force that pulled the cars out of the mine. Each hoist used a large winch-like structure that was originally powered by steam. The picture you see below is of two miners being pulled out of the mine by the hoist system. — Map (db m95445) HM

Main Street, near here, crosses a barely perceptible ridge line. This line divides water ﬂowing east to the Atlantic Ocean, via the Roanoke River basin, from water ﬂowing west to the Gulf of Mexico, via the New, Ohio, and Mississippi . . . — Map (db m84779) HM

The Future Farmers of Virginia (FFV) was founded on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute by four members of the Agricultural Education Department in September, 1925. Developed as a statewide organization for boys enrolled in high school . . . — Map (db m16235) HM

Student, 1917-1920, 1921-1922
Six years after graduating from VPI, Fred Durham bought the C. Lee Cook Company, which merged with three other companies in 1955 to form Dover Corp., today a Fortune 500 manufacturing company. As president and . . . — Map (db m43021) HM

Here was the first foundation that pulled the coal cars from the mine. This foundation held the hoist that worked in sequence with a series of hoists to move the coal. The foundations are still here to this day because of the force that was put on . . . — Map (db m95440) HM

Professor 1903-1943
Dean of the College 1924-1943
Known for wise counsel and leadership, John Edward Williams earned wide respect during 40 years at VPI as a Mathematics professor and Dean of the College. An American Association for the . . . — Map (db m16238) HM

Class of 1905
Master of Science 1906
A distinguished scientist, John H. Squires had a brilliant career as a chemist with E.I. DuPont de Nemours, GM Corporation, and American Cyanamid. He also taught at a college and was instrumental in . . . — Map (db m43041) HM

President 1891-1907
Known as the “Father of VPI,” John McLaren McBryde laid the foundation for modern Virginia Tech. He increased bachelor's degree offerings, added graduate programs, created an infirmary, and christened the motto Ut . . . — Map (db m43037) HM

Secretary, YMCA 1918-1964
Director of Religious Affairs 1957-1964
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Paul Neyron Derring was the first blind man to complete college in Virginia. While heading the YMCA at VPI, he became a father figure to countless . . . — Map (db m43020) HM

Price's Fork is within the area often referred to as the German New River Settlement. Before 1745, German immigrants moved from Pennsylvania and began settling in this region within the Price's Fork-Tom's Creek area near and along the horseshoe . . . — Map (db m42850) HM

What is wrong with Stroubles Creek?
Stroubles Creek is considered “impaired” by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality because it does not support a diverse community of aquatic insects and fish. The main pollutants . . . — Map (db m41473) HM

An American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, Robert James Davidson worked at VPI as a chemist for the experiment station as a chemistry professor before becoming the first dean of the Scientific Department and the Department of . . . — Map (db m16215) HM

Smithfield, visible to the northeast, was the last home of Col. William Preston, a noted surveyor who fostered the settlement of western lands. Preston was also a Revolutionary officer, Indian fighter, and a member of the House of Burgesses. Built . . . — Map (db m86233) HM

The earliest portion of Solitude was constructed about 1801 on land owned by Philip Barger, who sold the property in 1803 to James Patton Preston, governor of Virginia (1816-1819). Governor John Floyd (1830-1834), Preston's brother-in-law, lived at . . . — Map (db m16213) HM

This bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) was planted around 1895 by Professor Alwood at the site of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station. One of many trees planted by Alwood, it is the only living member of a collection he documented to . . . — Map (db m64221) HM

Built as a federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, the Armory is located on the former Blacksburg Public School Campus, where the local elementary and high schools originally stood. This building served as a National Guard armory and . . . — Map (db m95446) HM

Nick Kappas emigrated from Greece in 1913 and located in Roanoke. After the VPI vs. VMI annual football game in Roanoke, VPI cadets who frequented a restaurant where Kappas worked, persuaded him to move to Blacksburg to open his own business. He . . . — Map (db m84778) HM

The Commissary building was located here and served the community for their groceries as well as everyday household supplies. These concrete piers once supported the loading platform and post office that were in this building. The Commissary was . . . — Map (db m95439) HM

Here remain just a few bricks and concrete that made the foundations of the hotel. This hotel was a large two-story boardinghouse for unmarried miners, new employees and visitors to the mines. The hotel also featured a single-story porch across the . . . — Map (db m95438) HM

Learn about your watershed
A watershed or drainage basin, is the area of land where all the water that drains off it runs to a specific point on a watercourse, usually a confluence of stream or river.
The Stroubles Creek watershed is . . . — Map (db m41466) HM

Here was the center of the entire Merrimac community: the Tipple was the largest and most prominent building here. Reaching 100 feet high, the Tipple was the loading station for the train, the Huckleberry. The Huckleberry would run directly through . . . — Map (db m95443) HM

Head, Department of Physics 1954-1959
President 1962-1974
President Emeritus 1975-
One of the university’s greatest presidents, T. Marshall Hahn Jr. engineered Virginia Tech’s evolution from a college to a major research university. The . . . — Map (db m43022) HM

State Demonstration Agent 1907-1917
Called the father of farm demonstration and extension work in Virginia, Thomas Oldham Sandy was a progressive farmer who promoted improved scientific education in agriculture. He became the Commonwealth’s . . . — Map (db m41463) HM

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University was founded in 1872 as a land-grant college specializing in agriculture and mechanics. The land-grant college system marked the beginning of scientific agricultural and industrial instruction in . . . — Map (db m16237) HM

Five miles south lies the main campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, founded in 1872 as a land-grant college specializing in agriculture and mechanical arts. The land-grant college system initiated scientific agricultural . . . — Map (db m37520) HM

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University was founded in 1872 as a land-grant college specializing in agriculture and mechanics. The land-grant college system marked the beginning of scientific agricultural and industrial instruction in . . . — Map (db m42848) HM

The airport was founded in 1931 as a college-owned facility. School funds and a grant from the Works Progress Administration in the early 1940s paid for paving a runway and building a hangar. Two training programs offered here made the airport . . . — Map (db m41425) HM

This cemetery is the final resting place for numerous Civil War veterans. It was originally the burial ground of the Black family, for whom the town is named. The cemetery later grew in size and eventually merged with the African American graveyard . . . — Map (db m84752) HM

Craig County farm boy Add Caldwell
walked 26 miles to enroll here in 1872
as the first student. The popular cadet
majored in agriculture and worked as a
teacher, clerk, and salesman before his
death in 1910.
Donated by the Class of . . . — Map (db m42925) HM

This is Smithfield, the birthplace of William Ballard Preston (1805-1862). On April 16, 1861, in the Virginia Convention, he reluctantly introduced the formal resolution to secede from the Union.
Preston served in the Virginia House of . . . — Map (db m84776) HM

Just northeast stood the home of William Black, the founder of Blacksburg. In 1797, he laid out a 16-block grid and petitioned the Virginia General Assembly to incorporate a town here; the legislature approved his petition on 13 January 1798. On 4 . . . — Map (db m41436) HM

Christiansburg, originally known as "Hans Meadows," was established in 1792 and named for Colonel William Christian noted Colonial and Revolutionary Indian fighter. It became an important place on the route to the West. On May 10, 1864, Averell . . . — Map (db m23905) HM

In 1866, Captain Charles S. Schaeffer, a Freedmen's Bureau agent, organized a school for blacks on the hill just to the southeast. Charles L. Marshall of Tuskeegee Institute became principal of the school in 1896. Under his guidance and with support . . . — Map (db m41424) HM

In this town occurred the duel between Thomas Lewis and John McHenry in May, 1808. This was the first duel with rifles known to have taken place in Virginia. It resulted in the death of both men. Dr. John Floyd, later Governor of Virginia and member . . . — Map (db m41422) HM

To the memory
of Montgomery’s sons
who fell in the
Lost Cause
and to
all the Confederate dead
who lie beneath her soil.
This monument
is erected by her daughters
1861-1865
In this county
lie the remains of
300 . . . — Map (db m41453) HM

Dedicated to the
memory of these
citizens of Mont-
gomery County,
Virginia, who made
the supreme
sacrifice in the
service of our
country in the
world conflicts
Sponsored and erected by
the Montgomery County
American . . . — Map (db m41445) WM

Fotheringay was the home of George Hancock (1754-1820), a colonel in the Virginia Line during the Revolutionary War and aide-de-camp to Count Casimir Pulaski. He later served in both the Virginia House of Delegates and in the U.S. Congress, and was . . . — Map (db m23904) HM

Montgomery County
Area 401 Square Miles
Formed in 1776 from Fincastle, and named for General Richard Montgomery, killed at Quebec, 1775. The Virginia Polytechnic Institute is here.
Roanoke County
Area 305 Square Miles
Formed in . . . — Map (db m23827) HM

Near here stood Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, popular resort area of 19th century America. During the Civil War the resort was converted into a military hospital staffed by Catholic nuns. Several hundred victims of smallpox including nurses and . . . — Map (db m3851) HM

Ephraim Vause was appointed Captain of Horse in 1753 and was considered a man of considerable influence. For the protection of his family and his neighbors he built a simple palisaded fort nearby on his farm. In June 1756, during the French and . . . — Map (db m42849) HM